Twilight of the Books Caleb Crain over at The New Yorker:
The reader is also alone, but the N.E.A. reports that readers are more likely than non-readers to play sports, exercise, visit art museums, attend theatre, paint, go to music events, take photographs, and volunteer. Proficient readers are also more likely to vote. Perhaps readers venture so readily outside because what they experience in solitude gives them confidence. Perhaps reading is a prototype of independence. No matter how much one worships an author, Proust wrote, “all he can do is give us desires.” Reading somehow gives us the boldness to act on them. Such a habit might be quite dangerous for a democracy to lose.
Reading and its significance on civilizations
The ability of civilizations to develop hinges on the passing of information and knowledge from one generation to another. Reading and writing is an incredibly effective way of achieving this, especially in situations where technology can play no real role.
For the individual, the ability to read and write is fundamental to our ability to communicate with each other effectively. With the rise of the internet and email it indicates that these abilities will not decrease in their importance, but make them even more significant in every day life. Those who cannot read properly can never really achieve their potential in todays society.